Radio Times
type: channel
link: https://www.radiotimes.com
date: 2022-07-01T16:21:31.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: Finding Dory review and trailer
items: The Lion King review: "a peculiar hybrid of nature documentary and coming-of-age tale"
items: Aladdin review: "glittery, energetic and positively determined to wow us"
items: Alita: Battle Angel review: "a glittering CGI mishmash"
items: Widows review: “delivers food for thought and genre-savvy twists”
items: The Little Stranger director Lenny Abrahamson on chasing Oscars — and why ghost films are better without CGI
items: Christopher Robin: “a scrappy affair with very little genuine feeling”
items: Ethan Hawke on Trump, making money and post-Weinstein Hollywood
items: Incredibles 2 review: "Irresistible entertainment"
items: The Happy Prince review: "a moody, bustling portrayal of a Victorian icon"
items: Barking bad: Bryan Cranston reveals what drew him to Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs
items: Goodbye Christopher Robin review – "startling and affecting"
items: Detroit review: "A vital statement on the oppressive power structures embedded in American society"
items: Swallows and Amazons review: "an involving, beautifully mounted adaptation"

Finding Dory review and trailer
type: item
date: 2019-12-25T13:00:00.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Review
description: Pixar's follow-up to Finding Nemo has all of the heart – and more of the smarts – as the absent-minded blue tang fish feels the call of home
encoded: ★★★★★ Pixar has made so many classic animated features since 1995’s original Toy Story, that it’s difficult to keep in mind the sheer scope of its achievement. Critics tend to pick out the ones that display the most mould-breaking creativity, like Inside Out or Wall-E, and, of course, it’s hard to argue with the Toy Story trilogy, with its all-conquering combination of childlike joy and adult anxiety, as the very peak of the studio’s output. Still, there’s always been something special about 2003’s Finding Nemo, not just in the sheer jollity and cuteness of its undersea kingdom, but the real heart that moves the story along, transforming it from a deeply affecting drama about a single parent separated from his only son, into a wholly uplifting paean to self-reliance. In the end, Nemo truly is the little clownfish that could, and his ultimate survival chimes with different generations – providing inspiration for kids, reassurance for parents. Given that Finding Nemo is so satisfying in and of itself, you’d be forgiven for wondering whether anyone actually needed a sequel. Thirteen years on however, writer/director Andrew Stanton has returned to the material because he’s lots more to tell us about Dory, the plucky blue tang fish who helped Nemo’s stressed-out dad scour the oceans for his missing son. Where did she come from? What about her folks? View oEmbed on the source website Finding Dory brings her an origin story of her very own, the first step of which is for her to remember that she actually had a mum and dad. That’s no mean feat for a fish whose short-term memory issues render her unable to retain new information for more than a few seconds, but a year on from the events of the first film, something deep inside sends her venturing across the Pacific towards the California coast, where fragments of recollection tell her she grew up. That’s quite an odyssey to undertake, so plucky Nemo and worrywart Marlon tag along for support – none of them knowing whether Do…

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The Lion King review: "a peculiar hybrid of nature documentary and coming-of-age tale"
type: item
date: 2019-07-16T11:45:34.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Disney
subject: Review
description: Marvel at the computer-generated craftsmanship but this "live-action" refit cannot quite match the emotional heights of the Disney animated classic
encoded: After Dumbo and Aladdin, the third of this year’s Disney updates from the company’s rich back catalogue of animated classics brings a "live-action" refit of The Lion King, which is actually anything but. Those lions and hyenas may look incredibly convincing, as indeed does the rugged African landscape where the action unfolds, yet they are, in fact, the result of state-of-the-art computer programming. Technically, the achievement is little sort of remarkable, but does it breathe new life into the much-loved tale of a lion cub struggling to live up to the legacy of his late father, the benign lord of a whole African community of furred and feathered folk? View oEmbed on the source website Individual responses to that question may vary, depending on whether you’re fresh to the Hamlet-lite saga of Simba and the dynasty of lions ensconced on Pride Rock, or you already know and love the 1994 original, now regarded as a high-water mark of old-school animation. Although the new film adds half an hour to the running time, the story elements and splendid songs remain the same, opening with the presentation of the young royal lion cub to the gathered multitudes of tigers, giraffes and flamingos – which looks somehow rather jarring now that the extraordinary menagerie on screen is that bit more realistic. And there’s the rub. Line-drawn creatures who talk and sing and joke, we’re easily able to accept within the imaginative world of storytelling, yet when every bit of ruffled fur and striving sinew looks so utterly plausible, it becomes a rather peculiar hybrid of nature documentary and coming-of-age tale. The drama itself remains engrossing because it was so well constructed to begin with, yet, especially for those familiar with the animated source, it’s as if there’s a barrier inhibiting our complete surrender. Director Jon Favreau’s careful approach, sticking closely to many of the original’s indelible images – like Simba’s tiny paw stepping within his dad’s massive footpri…

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Aladdin review: "glittery, energetic and positively determined to wow us"
type: item
date: 2019-05-22T07:00:13.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Disney
subject: Review
description: Guy Ritchie's $200 million live-action remake certainly dazzles, but there's no getting over Will Smith's weird-looking genie
encoded: Disney retools its 1992 Arabian Nights-style animated classic into a live-action remake, as a cunning thief again romances a princess and confronts an evil courtier, with the help of a wise-cracking genie released from his lamp. In the original movie, Robin Williams’s hilarious vocal contribution was the big news, and here Will Smith works hard to bring something of the same pizzazz. As always, he’s an amiable screen presence, though his game attempt to find an equivalent to Williams’s shape-shifting whirlwind of fun does come over as a tad effortful. And, of course, seeing his face superimposed on an otherwise buff and weirdly blue body, whether it’s true to the original character design or not, is undeniably unsettling. View oEmbed on the source website As well as trying to live up to Williams’s unrepeatable turn, the redo also wrestles with how social values and indeed Western responses to the Arab world have changed in the years since 1992. Hence, Naomi Scott’s strong-willed Princess Jasmine gets her feminist status enhanced yet further, while the gags about traditional methods of punishment (hand-chopping etc) have now been removed, as the film takes a very cautious approach to representations of Islamic culture. The transition from animation to live-action presents its challenges, too, so the previously entertainingly anthropomorphic qualities of Aladdin’s cheeky monkey sidekick, the Princess’s loyal pet tiger and baddie Jafar’s comic parrot accomplice are all significantly dialled-down in their revised CGI incarnations. Instead, there’s more room for human character development, especially in the set-up, where Aladdin, unhappy at having to steal food just to survive, and the Princess, trapped in the palace and facing the prospect of an arranged dynastic marriage, both yearn to escape from their lives. That said, stretching the very same story out from 90 to 128 minutes does make for slow going at times. Under Guy Ritchie’s direction, there’s plenty of digital…

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Alita: Battle Angel review: "a glittering CGI mishmash"
type: item
date: 2019-02-05T11:53:15.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
description: James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez fail to inject any humanity into their manga-inspired tale of a born-again cyborg girl
encoded: ★★ Almost a decade ago, James Cameron’s Avatar matched ground-breaking digital effects with potent storytelling to score a box-office bonanza. Since then, he’s been beavering away on no less than four sequels, the first of which is due out next year. All of which meant he had to relinquish the reins on another long-gestating project, his screenplay adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s1990s Japanese manga saga Gunnm. Thus it fell to Sin City helmer Robert Rodriguez to take on this mega-budget cyberpunk flick, revolving around a seemingly cutesy heroine with badass fighting skills. With Cameron also on board as producer, expectation was sky-high, but the results prove something of a glittering CGI mishmash. One very curious decision was to give the elfin heroine such enormous eyes. As portrayed by Rosa Salazar, in motion-capture footage then digitally enhanced, Alita has such outsized peepers it becomes an unnecessary distraction. View oEmbed on the source website She’s a cyborg, recovered from a 26th-century junkyard and pieced back together by Christoph Waltz’s tech whizz. Maintaining a surprisingly sunny disposition as her spluttering memory circuits hint at a far darker backstory, there’s also something slightly creepy about her that keeps viewers at a distance from her emotional journey. As the full extent of her pre-programmed combat skills become increasingly apparent, the story undoubtedly recalls Blade Runner, though the guiding role played by fatherly Waltz also echoes Gepetto’s relationship with Pinocchio. That intriguing blend of sci-fi heft and classic fable unfortunately gets rather lost in the shuffle, however, as Rodriguez barrels ahead with anodyne teen romance, a serial killer sub-plot, and a murky historical context involving apocalyptic interplanetary conflict. There’s also much high-octane carnage in and around the Motorball track – dystopian Iron City’s major form of public diversion. Think Rollerball meets Robot Wars, as tooled-up cyborg warriors impa…

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Widows review: “delivers food for thought and genre-savvy twists”
type: item
date: 2018-10-30T12:05:17.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Review
description: Steve McQueen helms a polished, crowd-pleasing thriller with big ideas and a powerhouse performance from Viola Davis
encoded: ★★★★ The loss of their criminal husbands during a botched heist leaves a trio of widows in the tightest of spots, as 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen transfers the 1983 British TV crime drama to contemporary Chicago. Reportedly, the Lynda La Plante original was a favourite of McQueen’s mum’s when he was a teenager in West London, but this new Americanised version brings with it a welter of added complications. Here, the women’s daunting task of reimbursing the haul of cash lost in the failed job, or face potentially lethal consequences from some scary characters, is woven in and out of the city’s corrupt local politics. At the centre of it all, Viola Davis bites down hard on a career-defining role, ferocious as a woman who’s barely had time to grieve (for dodgy hubby Liam Neeson) before she’s battling for survival. It’s the kind of old-school Hollywood grand dame role – think Joan Crawford – that African-American actresses are rarely given the opportunity to play, and Davis certainly makes the most of it. View oEmbed on the source website Her fellow widows, played by Michelle Rodriguez (who loses her clothing store to her late husband’s gambling debts) and Elizabeth Debicki (a domestic abuse victim who ends up in the “escort” trade), join Davis in a plot to steal the funds which will give all of them a second chance, but co-writers McQueen and Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn are as interested in the story’s urban context as its caper-movie potential. Colin Farrell’s wealthy, oleaginous local councillor, and icily threatening henchman Daniel Kaluuya, make their presence felt in the bigger picture. The film has things to say about the connections between money and power, both at home and in wider society, where women and ethnic minorities are so often at the mercy of controlling cash-rich men. This broad canvas makes the film feel slightly more like a vintage Sidney Lumet New York fresco, à la Prince of the City, rather than a femme-friendly caper flick of the o…

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The Little Stranger director Lenny Abrahamson on chasing Oscars — and why ghost films are better without CGI
type: item
date: 2018-09-21T12:02:44.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
description: The Oscar-nominated director of Room discusses his latest postwar thriller starring Ruth Wilson and Domhnall Gleeson
encoded: Being nominated as best director at the 2016 Academy Awards for the claustrophobic captivity thriller Room seems to have messed with Lenny Abrahamson’s head. “By the time you get to the actual Oscar night, you’re just knackered,” reflects the 51-year-old Dubliner. “It’s a full-on six months of interviews, receptions, screenings and waking up in the mornings in some hotel not quite sure where you are, but knowing there’s a black SUV outside waiting to whisk you away somewhere else.” We meet in a sun-filled office in a Georgian terrace just south of Dublin’s city centre, home to Abrahamson’s production outfit, Element Pictures. In person, Abrahamson is affable and as articulate as you’d expect of someone who started off at Dublin’s Trinity College studying theoretical physics and then switched to mental and moral science – philosophy to you and me. Eleven years into his feature film career, Room, his fifth release, proved a breakthrough. Adapted by Emma Donoghue from her muchlauded novel, its daunting story – about a young woman locked inside a suburban outbuilding with the small son fathered by her kidnapper – was certainly a hard sell. But the empathy and intelligence of Abrahamson’s handling brought the film four Oscar nominations, with Donoghue winning for best adapted screenplay. View oEmbed on the source website Abrahamson isn’t ungrateful for his Oscar nomination – on the night he lost out to Alejandro G Iñárritu for The Revenant – but he speaks of feeling like he was “spat out at the other end”, and finding himself “back in Dublin having to make your own breakfast. You realise it’s hit you like a drug. It’s like a chemical imbalance… you want to get back to that place and the best way to do it seems to be to make another Oscar-worthy film. As soon as possible.” The Little Stranger may be that film. In contrast to Room’s contemporary, American-set family drama – and indeed its predecessor, Frank, a quirky musical odyssey about a singer who performs under a papi…

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Christopher Robin: “a scrappy affair with very little genuine feeling”
type: item
date: 2018-08-13T15:33:36.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Review
description: Winnie the Pooh is back to help Ewan McGregor’s beleaguered dad, but there’s not enough magic in this tall tale
encoded: ★★ A year after Goodbye Christopher Robin used fact-based drama to trace the fortunes of the real boy behind the Winnie the Pooh stories, here’s the rather more fanciful Disney offering, in which the now grown-up master Christopher (Ewan McGregor) returns to Hundred Acre Wood for an effects-assisted adventure with his childhood pals. McGregor manfully puts on his best posh Home Counties accent as the husband and father mired in work commitments impinging on his family life, but the digitally animated reappearance of Pooh and pals could yet signal a welcome reconfiguration of his priorities. View oEmbed on the source website It’s a familiar tale, seen before in Mary Poppins and indeed the dread Hook, whereby a cranky dad needs to forget his career and rediscover his inner big kid. However, Christopher Robin’s five credited screenwriters seem to be in a bit of a pickle about how to achieve this liberating resolution, delivering a decidedly scrappy affair, with much frantic chasing about, a central character who’s a rather tiresome fusspot, and very little genuine feeling. Where’s the magic we were hoping for? Director Marc Forster also helmed the marvellous Finding Neverland, so hopes were high that he could bring some of the same child-like delight to these proceedings. Curiously, though, part of the disappointment might be related to the decision to render Pooh, Tigger, Piglet et al, as cuddly toys come back to computer-generated life. The Paddington movies, for instance, absolutely made us believe in a digital bear, but the furry animals on display here are surprisingly charmless – not least Pooh’s downright creepy button eyes and the faded tones which drain the colour from the usually irrepressible Tigger. It’s difficult to credit that this lot are going to change anyone’s life, not least the much-hassled McGregor. Given that Disney’s familiar versions of AA Milne and EH Shepard’s characters are much loved to begin with, there might surely have been a case here fo…

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Ethan Hawke on Trump, making money and post-Weinstein Hollywood
type: item
date: 2018-07-13T10:25:06.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
description: The actor, writer and director stars as a tormented priest alongside Amanda Seyfried in his latest film First Reformed
encoded: He’s graced our screens for more than three decades, but Ethan Hawke has never before shown such fierce gravitas. Now his role as troubled Reverend Toller in First Reformed is the epitome of solemn dignity. An unsettling spiritual drama for our turbulent times, the film has garnered stellar reviews in the States. With his drawn features accentuating those sharp cheekbones, Hawke’s pastor – of a small, white-timbered church in New York State’s historic Albany – proves as serious as any fire-and-brimstone sermon. It’s a far cry from the eager youth he played in Dead Poets Society in 1989, but since then Hawke has become one of Hollywood’s most versatile performers, if not a marquee star. Bringing a slow-burning intensity to the ecclesiastical meltdown at the heart of this story, his fervent eco-warrior convert prepares to defend the planet by any means necessary. “Will God forgive us for destroying the Earth?” Toller asks accusingly, while the tragedies of his own life bear down on his booze-ravaged body. Writer/director Paul Schrader’s modestly scaled but thematically rich film is a powerful brew, and while Hawke absolutely does it justice, it’s undoubtedly a weightier role than he’s used to. He’s a leading man, after all, often exemplifying decency and somewhat befuddled masculinity – the slightly flaky dad in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, or the writer facing the regrets of maturity in Linklater’s Before trilogy. Ethan Hawke: Boyhood “scared the s**t” out of Hollywood Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke's daughter Maya Hawke makes her acting debut as Jo March View oEmbed on the source website As he passes through London, it’s obvious the still-trim 47-year-old actor was more than up for the film’s demands. “In a normal movie, it would be my job to help the audience understand who Toller is, but this is not that movie,” he explains. “This role is about non-simplistic thinking, where nothing is just one thing. Is Toller politically charged or going crazy? Is he finding his fa…

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Incredibles 2 review: "Irresistible entertainment"
type: item
date: 2018-07-11T12:40:38.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Review
description: The everyday superhero family returns to battle with super-villains and role reversal in this delightful, combustible sequel
encoded: ★★★★ Fourteen years after they first burst onto the scene, Pixar’s superhero family is back for a new animated adventure that picks up where the first film left off. Hence, those "supers" are still deemed illegal by US authorities, and must live clandestinely, keeping their extraordinary abilities under wraps. That rule certainly goes against the grain of what cinema audiences are used to seeing these days, since screens are filled week in, week out with a seemingly endless parade of besuited and caped heroes. The original Incredibles movie certainly made its contribution to that ongoing cultural shift, which has seen comic-strip crusaders act as a sort of imaginative bulwark against our real fears of an increasingly dangerous world. Writer-director Brad Bird, who has returned for Incredibles 2, once more delivers thrillingly choreographed action, but through the movie's unique domestic scale and resonance, he also suggests that simply getting through everyday family life is a heroic feat in itself. View oEmbed on the source website This time, with their special powers still officially outlawed, the Parr family faces a future in frustrated anonymity, until an approach from a tech magnate determined to bring the supers back to public acceptance gets Helen (brilliantly voiced by Holly Hunter) back in her stretchy Elastigirl suit to take on a terrifying new foe. However, she can only do so while Bob – the former Mr Incredible – (Craig T Nelson), holds the fort at home. Soon Bob’s realising that helping son Dash with his homework, tip-toeing round daughter Violet’s volatile emotions and keeping baby Jack-Jack entertained are indeed superhuman tasks. So we are presented with zingily fanciful spectacle – Elastigirl battling to save a runaway monorail train packed with passengers – playing off against the recognisably mundane – Bob wrestling manfully with the dilemma of purchasing AA or AAA batteries. It’s not so often, it has to be said, that we watch a superhero movie an…

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The Happy Prince review: "a moody, bustling portrayal of a Victorian icon"
type: item
date: 2018-06-05T16:20:59.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Review
description: Oscar Wilde's life on the Continent after prison is a given labour-of-love treatment by director and star Rupert Everett
encoded: ★★★ Rupert Everett has worked for a good ten years to bring this portrait of his hero, Oscar Wilde, to the screen. Not only that, he also makes his debut as writer/director and takes the central role of the Victorian cultural icon brought low by charges of gross indecency with men. View oEmbed on the source website Previously an absolute dab hand with Wilde’s glittering dialogue in film adaptations of An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest, Everett might seem just the man to incarnate the author himself on celluloid, particularly after earning strong reviews for playing Wilde on the London stage in David Hare’s biographical study The Judas Kiss. There’s added value, too, in the specific approach favoured by Everett’s script, which focuses on the less-explored period of Wilde’s life, when he fled to the Continent after his release from Reading jail – never again to set foot in England or Ireland before his death at 46. As it is, Everett delivers a moody, bustling portrayal of a man coming to terms with the vicissitudes of his fate, focusing less on the whys and wherefores of his descent from gilded literary celebrity to reviled outcast, and more on the aftermath. We see him pondering his mortality, dealing with the hardscrabble daily realities of exile and bearing the weight of regret – the suggestion being that like the diamond-encrusted statue in Wilde’s eponymous short story, he’s somehow been undone by the generosity of his affections. With flashbacks to his London fame and previous loving family life threaded through the course of his reduced circumstances, Everett’s take on the biopic is even ambitious enough to accommodate an ongoing romantic triangle as well. Hence, flighty aristo Bosie (the object of affection who sparked the court proceedings) continues to cast a toxic spell thanks to Colin Morgan’s suitably brittle performance, while the sincere feelings of Wilde’s faithful literary executor Robbie Ross (an effective Edwin Thomas) go unreturn…

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Barking bad: Bryan Cranston reveals what drew him to Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs
type: item
date: 2018-03-30T07:01:19.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Comedy
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: TV
description: The Breaking Bad star also talks why animation should have the same pedigree as live-action
encoded: "My starting point was what if this was a stray human?” says Bryan Cranston. Chief is the strangest role he’s had since playing Walter White, the mild-mannered, cancer-stricken chemistry teacher turned crystal-meth kingpin in Breaking Bad. “Chief has never had a break. He’s had to fight for everything. I get that guy!” “That guy” is in fact a dog. But we’ll come to that later. When the 62-year-old Californian takes time to chat to Radio Times, he’s in London, finishing a run of Network at the National Theatre, playing the role made famous by Peter Finch in the 1976 film about a news anchor having a spectacular meltdown. The first reactions for Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs are in and everyone is loving it Isle of Dogs review: “wholly, idiosyncratically unique” Get him onto the subject of Isle of Dogs, Wes Anderson’s second stop-motion animation after Roald Dahl favourite Fantastic Mr Fox, and it’s clear that he’s still fired up. He relished the opportunity to work to the exacting standards presented by the cult Texan. View oEmbed on the source website This level of dedication to the craft of acting can take you to some unexpected places. Cranston’s success came after he turned 50 when he’d already put in two decades of work on American TV as a busy supporting player, most notably his six-year stint as the inept dad on Malcolm in the Middle. His game-changing role in Breaking Bad turned him into a cultural icon. With his bald pate, steel-rimmed glasses and basilisk stare, Walter White caught the public’s imagination: an essentially decent man who took the viewers on a compellingly dark journey. Now, in the latest in a string of enterprising challenges, Cranston’s remarkable gravel-and-honey tones get a fresh showcase. But back to Chief. In Isle of Dogs, he’s a wily mongrel with the scarred fur of a street-fighter – the “alpha dog” in a group of strays consigned to a toxic off-shore dump in a dystopian future Japan. The Cranstonian snarl fits Chief just perfectly: he do…

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Goodbye Christopher Robin review – "startling and affecting"
type: item
date: 2017-09-28T14:18:21.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: Review
description: AA Milne's magical world has enchanted generations of readers, but the childhood of the real Christopher Robin was not as carefree
encoded: ★★★★ Review by Trevor Johnston The magical world of A.A. Milne’s ‘Winnie the Pooh’ stories continues to enchant generations of young readers, yet this biographical drama suggests that a rather darker family history lurks behind the bedtime favourite. In Domhnall Gleeson’s straight-backed portrayal, Milne is shown as a somewhat troubled figure, a formerly successful writer of light theatrical comedies who faced crippling writer’s block when attempting to turn his traumatic First World War combat experiences into great literature. Having moved his wife Daphne and small son Christopher Robin to wooded rural seclusion so he could concentrate on his magnum opus, fooling around with children’s stories which brought their boy’s collection of soft toys to imaginative life turned out to be a blessed relief – and, of course, delivered Milne extraordinary worldwide fame and fortune. View oEmbed on the source website As the film title suggests however, the emotional focus here is on Christopher Robin himself, as the story brings to light a bitter irony. It turns out that the happy child in the stories, pottering around Hundred Acre Wood with his pals Pooh, Tigger and Piglet, actually had a somewhat miserable childhood in real life. Dimple-cheeked junior performer Will Tilston is so impossibly cute he almost looks as if he’s walked out of an illustration, yet he touchingly conveys both the joyful innocence and thwarted sadness of a child who’d much rather be playing with his dad than giving endless rounds of interviews promoting his books. None of which, frankly, endears us very much to Mr and Mrs Milne as they’re pictured in the course of the story. In his previous features, My Week with Marilyn and Woman in Gold, experienced theatre and television director Simon Curtis managed a judicious blend of facts and dramatic licence. In this instance though, while the notion of Milne essentially turning his own son into a brand to be exploited is certainly intriguing as cultural histor…

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Detroit review: "A vital statement on the oppressive power structures embedded in American society"
type: item
date: 2017-08-22T10:30:25.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Review
description: John Boyega stars in Kathryn Bigelow's urgent, angry drama about a bloody night in US history which resonates down the decades
encoded: ★★★★ After meeting acclaim and no little controversy with both their previous collaborations, the Iraq war bomb-squad drama The Hurt Locker, and hunt-for-Bin-Laden procedural Zero Dark Thirty, screenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow now tackle even more contentious territory with this dramatisation of disputed real-life events during the Detroit race riots of 1967. At its centre is a night of terror at an urban motel, where white city police investigating gunfire left behind a trail of broken and bloodied African-American bodies. It’s a choice of subject that instantly suggests the new film is using the turmoil of the past to comment on ongoing law-enforcement issues in the current era of Black Lives Matter. View oEmbed on the source website Certainly, this vivid, at times harrowing film is likely to stir up debate, not least from those who’d argue that this is not a story white film-makers should even be telling. That said, Boal and Bigelow’s approach is nuanced and far from conventional. It starts, for instance, with a potted history of post-slavery migration, told through folk-art paintings, to account for the presence of black-dominated ghettos in the northern state of Michigan. Only then does it set about recreating the explosive events of 1967, where those same districts went up in flames, a tinderbox ignited by perceptions of heavy-handed policing. Atmospheric archive footage from the period is used to bolster the film’s authentic-looking unfolding action, which picks out disparate characters in the swirl of destruction, including British actor John Boyega’s wary, conciliatory security guard, and Algee Smith as a would-be soul singer who’s crushed when the riots force the cancellation of his debut showcase. Their paths are to converge in the fateful events at the Algiers Motel, where the baddest apple in the Detroit force (Will Poulter, another Brit) takes centre stage in an extended sequence of abusive mental and physical violence that’s so claus…

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Swallows and Amazons review: "an involving, beautifully mounted adaptation"
type: item
date: 2016-08-12T11:27:00.000Z
creator: Trevor Johnston
subject: Movies
subject: News
subject: Review
description: Prepare to be transported by this latest take on Arthur Ransome's classic 1930s adventure – a radical reminder of an era when "kids being left to their own devices" meant something entirely different
encoded: ★★★★ For today’s children, this fresh adaptation of Arthur Ransome’s classic Lake District tale must seem as if it’s taking place on some distant planet. The brothers and sisters here are allowed to take their dinghy to the waters by themselves and even stay overnight on the island at its middle. They gut fish for dinner, navigate their way round the shores, and even find themselves in a territorial dispute with some cunning local rivals. Not a smartphone or tablet in sight, no social media updates, and no sign of an app to light a campfire when the matches have gone astray. View oEmbed on the source website The year is 1935, so best not to expect such modern tech anyway, but what’s fascinating about this slight rejig of Ransome’s much-loved 1930 novel, is that whatever liberties it takes with the plot – the dastardly Russian spies are a new addition! – it preserves the values of an era when young people were expected to learn by doing, and left to get on with it themselves. So, when the Walker family head to their usual holidaying spot, their mum (Kelly Macdonald, caring but understated) seeks advice from her navy commander husband, currently en route to Hong Kong, before letting the four children set sail on their own. "Better drowned than duffers. If not duffers won’t drown" comes the telegram in reply, giving the two brothers and two sisters licence to take the Swallow out on the lake, providing they make a proper job of it. As it turns out, raising their flag on the island only sets off a tussle with the tomboy Blackett sisters, who dub themselves the Amazons and don’t take kindly to these interlopers, and whose family connections with Rafe Spall’s mysterious houseboat-dwelling travel writer will land all concerned in international intrigue and genuine jeopardy. Aside from renaming the younger Walker girl Tatty (originally Titty, would you believe?), the main change here, an espionage angle introducing firearms, could seem like a sop to the expectation of moder…

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